Little Jolyne's Desire in the Deep Blue
by Burrito Nyan
Summary: Waiting with a little wishful thinking. Little Jolyne loves her father even when he is away. She was young then, and really, she looks up to him and wants to walk in his footsteps.


Jolyne was just a little girl then. She was smart, bright, and quite the handful. Without a sense of authority in the house, the laid-back and more easy-going mother was unable to always keep an eye on her daughter at all times. But she was fairly obedient. Just the kind of child to sneak a cookie out of the cookie jar when no one is looking. Which she was guilty of as charged, no doubt about it.

That's how most children were. Lively, curious, and of course, pretty spunky. This fit the little girl. When she wasn't indoors, she was out playing in the yard, tossing balls with the other neighborhood children or poking bugs with sticks. It definitely was a cute sight to see if one thought so.

There was no worries about the future. For a mind stuck on the present, it couldn't dwindle so long on the past or even make extreme peeks at the future minus far-fetched dreams.

"I want to be like daddy when I grow up," Was one thing she would tell herself. "Learn and protect animals who live in the waters. Like sharks, dolphins, manatees, turtles, fishies of all kinds!" And take a moment to remember what exactly that person was called.

What was the profession? Blast, her little mind!

"Oh, oh! A Marine..Marine Biol..ogist? Marine Biologist! Yeah... Protector of the ocean, sorta?"

And there it was. It seemed like something fun, something easy and good for the future of the world. Nothing too far-fetched, right? Not at all! Not by what she was told, anyways. All she had to do was stay out of trouble, keep in school, and with that much done, of course, things would be easier to go from there.

"Maybe I will be able to travel like daddy does. Maybe I can be with him then, since he goes a lot. I want to be with daddy when we work together," She told herself in a small whisper. Lying on her stomach, on the soft carpeting in her bedroom, her little eyes scanned pictures and large lines of words. A lot of those words, she could hardly even pronounce at this age - but the pictures were enough explanation for her. Her fingers tugged at the corner of the page, flipping it over to the next page. Those soft little fingertips graced upon the page's surface and slid across one of the pictures. "See turtles like these," Then her fingers scoot over to a colorful school of fish. "See all these pretty fish," Her fingers edged towards a dolphin. "Hopefully see lots of dolphins," And it went on and on.

Her room was kind of small. She didn't need anything too big. She had a white dresser lined up along the soft blue wall near the door's entrance, with her slide-door closet right beside it. And on the wall by it was a window, closed off by by thick, deep blue curtains with little golden starfish patterned on the fabric. They even had smiley faces on them. And across from that wall was of course, another, where her bed leaned against. The entire bed frame was white, and it had two drawers beneath it. Sheets were a baby blue, the covering was a deeper blue, matching the three pillow cases. Her blanket was plush and yellow, it felt very soft on the skin, like a silk, but..fluffier. And to decorate her bed was a golden starfish stuffed animal and a manatee atop the blanket. Her room was pretty neat. A little table at beside the headboard. It had a lamp on it, and a couple of crayons. A coloring book was on the floor beside the table, and the only other thing to really liter the floor was the plush olive carpeting and and towel.

Her father was coming home this evening. Little Jolyne had showered up and slipped into one of her father's t-shirts as if it were a nightgown. It was pretty big on her, but..she didn't really seem to care. Her hair was put up in the usual buns, only there was no braid in the back; the braid that was typically there was let down and brushed out neatly. Dinner had already been eaten, teeth have been brushed, and really, all she was waiting for now was to be called downstairs.

...

Which, unfortunately, didn't happen.

She had waited for what seemed like an eternity in a bored child's mind. She was going to fall asleep against her book any minute now, but..the faint sound of footsteps could be heard. Getting closer and closer, someone's feet ascended the stairs. The were heavy and all too familiar sounding. Unlike her mother's lighter steps, these were definitely heavier. The child perked up - a moment or so later, the doorknob jiggled slightly, twisted, then creaked open with a silence swing. And what stood in the doorway - who stood in the door way - was the large and tall frame of a male.

Someone all too familiar.

"Daddy!" Jolyne would cry out. The man knelt down to her height, expecting what was to come. And what had came was the child, who flung herself, open-armed, against him, closing her grasp around him as he wound his arms around her small form. The two stayed in a small embrace for a little amount of time, but boy, was the child's hug stronger than ever. Once they let go of one another, a smalls smile crept upon the man's lips.

This was Jotaro, Jolyne's father. She looked up to him. Even when he wasn't around, she wanted to be like him. Even though all that would change sooner or later, she was just young and happy to see him now, in the present. No past, no future too distant, just in the currency of the moment.

The stoic figure would gesture towards the bed. The little girl looked back and forth between he and the bed, then climbed up onto the mattress. She wiggled herself beneath the blankets while Jotaro sat at the edge of the bed.

After each trip, he would tell her about what he did, what he saw. Pretty much everything good. As a Marine Biologist, he was able to travel other places to study the aquatic animals. He told Jolyne about the neat animals he saw when he was away, what they did, what was unique about them, and the girl, who's eyes were practically starry, just shown with wonder and amazement, as she tried imagining every little description he gave. She definitely wanted to do this someday. She wanted to be with her father when he saw these cool things. It was a goal, an aspiration!

And eventually, storytelling had to come to an end. By the time Jotaro was through with talking, Jolyne was barely awake, just nodding off with her eyes hardly open. This happened more than often. It was late anyways - it was time to go to bed now. For everyone to go to bed now. He leaned over her small body and gently allowed his fingers to glide across her forehead, swiping the hair away from the patch of flesh in which his lips graced a moment later. He bid her a silent goodnight after pulling her fuzzy blanket over her shoulder. After shutting the lamp off, he quietly slid out the door and shut it behind him.

Sadly, he had to leave out the times he came close to death. Between his actual job and life, there was always trouble.

He was out mainly to keep danger away from the things he cherished dearly.


End file.
